RIVKE-LIPA KAMEYKA

RIVKE-LIPA KAMEYKA (1823?-February 6, 1893)

            She was born in Krakinove (Krekenava), Lithuania.  Her father, Moyshe-Mishl Lurye, was the rabbi of the town.  Her husband Meyer Kameyka was known by the name Meyer Anikshter.  She was the family breadwinner both in Lithuania and later in Jerusalem, where she settled with her husband and children in 1862.  She was firmly devoted to helping the poor and orphans, marrying off poor and orphaned girls, and similar matters.  She was thus called “Lipele di gabaite” (Lipele, the female synagogue trustee).  She was mentioned in Montefiore’s travel narrative of his 1875 trip to Jerusalem.  She authored the pamphlet Zekher olam (For eternal memory), a kind of letter written to her family in Krekenava.  She recounts in it her experiences from childhood on, her voyage to the land of Israel, and her visits to the parental graves of various wise men and sages in Tsfat (Safed), Ḥevron, and elsewhere.  This pamphlet in Yiddish and Hebrew (translated by someone) was published in 1882 in Jerusalem, an enlarged edition in 1884, and two more times (1891 and 1911).  She was the grandmother of Dr. Yoysef Lurye, editor of Yud (Jew), and a niece of Leon Kameyka.  She died in Jerusalem.

Sources: Asher-Leyb Brisk, Ḥelkat meḥokek (Portion of the lawgiver), vol. 2 (Jerusalem, 1900/1901); Shoshana Halevi, Hasefarim haivriim shenidpesu beyerushalayim (The Hebrew books published in Jerusalem) (Jerusalem, 1962/1963), pp. 119, 132.

Eliezer-Refoel Malachi